In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, metacarpophalangeal joint deformities can significantly affect hand function. Flexible hinge implant arthroplasty, designed in the 1960s, remains the most accepted and widely performed technique for treatment of severely involved metacarpophalangeal joints in rheumatoid arthritis. An arc of motion of 40 degrees to 60 degrees can be expected after arthropla...

Ten patients with metacarpophalangeal joint locking of the thumb were studied. Three of them underwent surgical release. During surgery, it was found that the radial sesamoid was seated in a cartilage defect on the volar aspect of the metacarpal head. It appeared that the defect was created by the proximal edge of sesamoid. When the abductor pollicis brevis and flexor pollicis brevis muscles we...

Double dislocations of finger joints are rare. An unusual case of a simultaneous Bennett's fracture/dislocation ofthe carpometacarpal joint and a dorsal dislocation of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the same thumb, and the management of this injury are reported. The patient had an excellent functional result.

Pediatric ganglion cyst of the hand is a rare entity. Its incidence is even lower in those arising from the metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint. We herein report the first known case of a ganglion cyst of the first MP joint in a 14-year-old boy. Pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

A patient who developed septic arthritis of a metacarpophalangeal joint after penetration by a tooth in a fist fight is described. The importance of recognising such a lesion at the time of injury is stressed.

Of eithty-six patients with collateral ligament instability of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb, sixty-six (77 per cent) had ulnar and twenty (23 per cent) had radial instability, while in addition twenty-four had fractures and twenty-nine had volar subluxation of the proximal phalanx. Of the sixty-nine patients operated on, sixty-five had an abnormality of the ulnar or radial collate...

Figure 1. Black and gangrenous eschar tissue in the right third digit previously amputated to the middle phalanx with distal gangrene and erythema around the right middle metacarpophalangeal joint.

Indications for small joint arthroscopy in the hand remain poorly understood. This is due to a paucity of papers discussing this technique in the literature, as well as inadequate hands on training in the pearls and pitfalls regarding this application within the commonly used "scope" of arthroscopy. Despite the fact that small joint arthroscopes have been available for over a decade, hand surge...